Workers at a Whole Foods market in Philadelphia voted on Monday to become the first united store in the Amazon food chain, opening a new front in the efforts of e -commerce giant to protect the work organization in numerous segments of her business.
Employees in the widespread Whole Foods store, in the city’s Spring Garden neighborhood, voted 130 to 100 in favor of organizing with the United Food and Trade Union, the National Labor Board said.
Store employees said they hoped a union could help negotiate higher salaries, above the current start of $ 16 per hour, and better benefits. Some long -term employees, who have been with Whole Foods to good before Amazon buy the chain in 2017, said that benefits and cuts at personnel levels when Amazon took over, among other changes, was resources Disappointment.
But those who lead the Union’s campaign hinted at a wider purpose: inspire a wave of organization across more than 500 chain grocery stores, adding union drives between warehouse employees and distribution executives already Amazon is fighting.
“I expect others to follow, and this will raise the lever we have at the shopping table,” said Ben Lovett, an employee at the Philadelphia shop who has led the organization. “We have told them that it is possible to organize in the Amazon.”
“This war is not over,” said Wendell Young IV, the President of UFCW Local 1776, who represents the retail and retail workers in Pennsylvania, said in a statement, “but today’s victory is an important step forward.”
Whole Foods said in a statement that the company was “disappointed” by the election result, but that it offered competitive compensation and benefits to employees and that it was “committed to maintaining a positive work environment” in the Philadelphia store.
The successful offer to form a union comes against a backdrop of what some workers have described as a scared campaign by Whole Foods. They showed increased monitoring of employees and anti-sandikal messages in the store after workers went public with their autumn organization efforts.
In the unfair accusations of work practice, presented on the work board earlier this month, UFCW Local 1776 accused Whole Foods of firing an employee in the Philadelphia store in retaliation for the support of the Union Drive. The union also accused the chain of excluding store employees to receive a rise this month to all its other workers in the Philadelphia area.
Whole Foods said he had respected all legal requirements when communicating with trade unions. The company denied claims for revenge, arguing that it could not legally change wages during the election process and that it had delayed an increase until the election to avoid the appearance of trying to influence the votes.
“A union is not needed at the Whole Foods Market,” the company said in a statement before the election, adding that it recognized the right of employees to “make an informed decision”.
The company, which has five days to challenge the election outcome before the result is proven, will have to bargain with the union for a contract covering united store workers, the NLRB said in a statement announcing the result.
But winning a trade union vote does not ensure that contract talks will progress. Amazon warehouse workers who join nearly three years still do not have a contract.
In 2022, workers in Staten Island voted to form the first Amazon union in the United States; It is now associated with the International Teamsters Brotherhood. Amazon has opposed the outcome of elections in court and refused to recognize or bargain with the Union. Distribution executives, who work for third -party package distribution companies that serve Amazon, have also mounted campaigns with Teamsters.
Last week, Amazon said she was closing all her warehouse and logistics operations in Quebec, the Canadian province, where trade unions had gained a foundation among some Amazon workers, and would rest 1,700 employees.
Amazon’s trade union’s break in certain ways, in certain ways, organizing the trade union at Starbucks that has spread to more than 500 stores in the United States since 2021, said Brishen Rogers, a professor of labor law Georgetown University.
In grocery stores and cafes, employees work side by side, day after day, in conditions that are often conducive to each other and the formation of solidarity networks, he said. These dynamics do not always exist in the warehouse, where workers tend to be under constant supervision.
“I wouldn’t shock,” said Mr. Rogers, “If it would have a snow effect in different places of Whole Foods, many like Starbucks.”
Ed Duper, who works at the Whole Foods store in Philadelphia and was involved in the Union’s campaign there, said he was in contact with workers in other places across the country who were interested in joining. At least 10 other Whole Foods stores have begun to arrange, he said.
The new political landscape in Washington can present obstacles to Philadelphia employees while trying to negotiate a contract, or for other stores they may submit to the union elections. After embracing Biden administration unions, President Trump is expected to appoint a new NLRB general adviser whose approach can make it more difficult to organize campaigns to succeed.
Employers usually use weaknesses in the federal labor law to avoid reaching a first contract with newly united employees, said Kate Andria, a professor of Labor and Employment at Columbia University. Legal barriers for organization and shopping exist despite the government’s stance on work, though companies may feel more encouraged to intimidate workers under President Trump, she said.
“We are likely to see the law becoming less favorable to workers during the Trump administration,” Ms Andrias said. But she added, “Even at times when there were hostile boards of work in the past, workers have been successful in organizing trade unions.”